DENVER — Peyton Manning walked away a winner in the biggest game of the year so far and, as a bonus, the Broncos might not even have to send his uniform off to the cleaners.

Manning threw for 323 yards and a touchdown Sunday and was barely touched by Kansas City’s sack-happy defense in Denver’s 27-17 victory over the NFL’s last undefeated team.

It means the ’72 Dolphins can rest easy for another year. And it puts Denver and the Chiefs in a tie atop the AFC West at 9-1, with a rematch set in two weeks.

“Our plan was to get to the QB, but the ball is coming out quick,” Kansas City’s Tamba Hali said. “He did a great job. Their team did a great job protecting him.”

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The only time they got to Manning was in the postgame scramble to shake the four-time MVP’s hand after he handed them their first loss of the season.

“To go sackless against the leading sack defense in the NFL, that’s a great testament to those guys,” Manning said about his much-maligned offensive line that came under fire after he took such a beating of late.

The Denver offensive line, featuring tackles Chris Clark and Orlando Franklin, shut out Kansas City’s sack duo of Hali and Justin Houston along with the rest of the K.C. defense, which came in with a league-leading 36 sacks.

CHICAGO — The Bears waited out a long rain delay and put in extra time to come away with a much-needed win.

Robbie Gould kicked a 38-yard field goal to lift the Bears to a 23-20 victory over Baltimore in a game delayed two hours by torrential rain.

The big delay came after Justin Tucker kicked a 52-yard field goal for the Ravens with 4:51 remaining in the first quarter. Fans were ordered to take cover as players headed to the locker rooms while heavy rains and winds whipped through Soldier Field.

The Ravens experienced a power outage in the Super Bowl, and the start of their season-opener at Denver was pushed back by lightning.

“I think we’ve led the league in delays over the last few years,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said.

Notes

• Detroit’s Matthew Stafford now has 16,005 career passing yards to blow past Bobby Layne’s club record of 15,710.

• Washington linebacker London Fletcher played in his 250th consecutive game in the Redskins’ 24-16 loss at Philadelphia. He’s the fourth player in NFL history to play in 250 straight.